The timeline of statistics
‘Study the past if you would define the future’ - Confucius. ‘The further back you…
Julian ChampkinJanuary 24, 2014
Syrian chemical warfare: ‘Highly likely’ or ‘Compelling evidence’?
Parliament has just voted not to join in a war. MPs were recalled from their…
Migration statistics: ‘Unfit for purpose’?
Official UK migration figures have been denounced. They are "little better than a best guess",…
Julian ChampkinJuly 29, 2013
Protests in Egypt: how many are out on the streets?
The street protests going on in Egypt this month have been claimed as the biggest…
Julian ChampkinJuly 17, 2013
Omega-3: wonder-supplement or cancer risk?
A new shock horror health story. ‘Taking health supplements with omega-3 fatty acids can increase…
Julian ChampkinJuly 15, 2013
Bernoulli and the foundations of statistics: can you correct a 300-year-old error?
Ars Conjectandi is not a book that non-statisticians will have heard of, nor one that…
Julian ChampkinJune 10, 2013
Margaret Thatcher: Prime Minister who took science seriously
The death of Lady Thatcher was reported today. Better known as Margaret Thatcher, she was…
Julian ChampkinApril 8, 2013
George Box, (1919-2013): a wit, a kind man and a statistician
‘Essentially all models are wrong, but some are useful’. That quotation comes from George Box,…
Julian ChampkinApril 4, 2013
Kenya, Elections and violence: beating Swords into shillings?
Kenya has been having elections. The results were announced on Saturday. Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya's richest…
Julian ChampkinMarch 11, 2013
International Women’s Day: Gertrude Cox, the first lady of statistics
Happy International Women's Day! If last week's article proved anything, it's that there are lot…
Julian ChampkinMarch 8, 2013
Southwark Sapphire Unit – the worst rape statistics ever?
Rape is probably the most under-reported crime that there is, for all sorts of understandable…
Julian ChampkinFebruary 28, 2013
Fuel prices, the UK energy gap and the consequences of ignoring information
The chance of large power cuts – those that hit more than a million homes…
Julian ChampkinFebruary 21, 2013
Now is the winter of our uncertainty made glorious summer by this sun of journalistic zeal
A skeleton in a 21st century car park. A king dragged off his horse and…
Julian ChampkinFebruary 8, 2013
Lance Armstrong, Oprah, seven in a row and the weather: when should we get suspicious?
Lance Armstrong has confessed to Oprah Winfrey that all seven of his Tour de France…
Julian ChampkinJanuary 18, 2013
Bizarre statistic: How much will vultures pay us a year?
A somewhat bizarre statistic heard on the radio this morning. The discussion was on the…
Julian ChampkinJanuary 14, 2013
RPI versus CPI: what’s the difference? Why does it matter? Will it make you poorer or richer?
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is topping the headlines in all the UK media…
Julian ChampkinJanuary 10, 2013
2013: Year of Statistics, hospitals, cows, and living to 100
Happy New Year. Especially (for a statistical site) because 2013 is, officially, the International Year…
Julian ChampkinJanuary 7, 2013
New species of whale – first complete specimen identified
Last year we reported on the extinction of the Western Black Rhinoceros, and looked at the…
Julian ChampkinNovember 8, 2012
Odd Statistical Snippet of the week: Voltaire and the statistician who won the lottery and proved that the earth is not round
I was listening with half an ear (as one does) to Melvyn Bragg’s academic-intellectual-historical-philosophical-scientific educate-us-all-in-things-that-every-civilised-person-ought-to-know-but-probably-doesn’t…
Julian ChampkinMay 4, 2012
Burma: How poor? How repressive?
David Cameron has just returned from Burma, or Myanmar, the first-ever visit by a British…
Julian ChampkinApril 17, 2012
